Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance is Bliss

This article was interesting to me. It helped me understand why sometimes I can be over-confident about certain issues. I am a confident individual. I do rate myself "above average" on charts, but when it comes to having great math skills, I am not afraid to rate myself as average/poor. But I am OK with that. One thing that drives me nuts when I go out at night sometimes is that when people ask me: Are you a good artist?" How am i suppose to answer that? : No? Sometimes? I guess? Many people that I talk to and I tell them that I am in the Fine Art department at Ringling, they automatically think that I am a spectacular drawer or a master sculptor. Well, my drawing skills are not up to par with the illustrators. I am an "ok" drawer" but I do tell people that: "Yes, I am a good artist." I tell people that I am a good artist because why put yourself down. Be proud in what your passion/profession is! If you feel confident in a certain role such as believing that you have great humor, or doing a task well...role with it and own it! Yes, i believe that sometimes ignorance is bliss.

"Most incompetent people do not know that they are incompetent."

"students who are usually supremely confident of their abilities--more confident, in fact, than people who do things well."

"Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it."

"self-monitoring skills, helps explain the tendency of the humor-impaired to persist in telling jokes that are not funny."

"English grammar and humor were also the most likely to "grossly overestimate" how well they had performed."

"People who are NOT incompetent tend to "underestimate their own competence."

"In contrast, the self-assessments of those who scored badly themselves were unaffected by the experience of grading others; some subjects even further inflated their estimates of their own abilities."

"In competent individuals were less able to recognize competence in others."

"Overconfidence is common; studies have found. For example, that the vast majority of people rate themselves as "above average" on a wide array of abilities."

"In a golf game, when your ball is heading into the woods, you know you're incompetent."

"Faced with incompetence, social norms prevent most people from blurting out " You stink!"